This paper aims to explore the importance of religious identity amongst young second- and third-generation British Muslims. View Summary

This paper aims to explore the importance of religious identity amongst young second- and third-generation British Muslims. It further seeks to understand the influence, if any, religious identity has on their consumer behaviour, examining the global rise of an Islamic consumer against a more localised set of needs and preferences. Primary research for this paper consisted of qualitative interviews with young British Muslims in London and Greater Manchester, as well as a written reflection on identity and consumption completed by participants ahead of their interview. The findings of this research challenge existing assumptions around young British Muslims, and as such will be of interest to brands and research agencies alike.

This paper details mobile research into the feelings and behaviours of consumers in 10 Asia Pacific markets: China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. Smartphones are an important part of people's daily routines and social lives, creating an opportunity for qualitative mobile research. Mobile research has many benefits including improved participation rates, data accuracy and convenience for participants. Mobile research can also be used to create a kind of focus group, but with additional richness of information through images and videos from participants' real-life environment, within their usual routine. A case study of eating habits is described: using a mobile app a series of activities and questions were asked over a four day period, including gamified diaries, photo uploads, competitions and polls. The research generated insights into the snacking and eating habits of participants, including practical and emotional considerations.

3

The essence of aroma: Understanding the process of semiotic coding of food aromas

This paper describes research into how the smell of foods impact on consumers and relates this to product launches in Asia. View Summary

This paper describes research into how the smell of foods impact on consumers and relates this to product launches in Asia. The typical development cycle for food product variations is long, with many iterations along the cycle. Research has found that rejection or acceptance of a new food is based on aroma, with preferences built in early life. In this study in India participants were given 'sniff strips' with different smells and asked some questions. Smells were classified as being 'foreign' or 'own culture', and then as familiar or unfamiliar to the participant. It was found that foreign smells were rejected more frequently than 'own culture' smells, with a 78% rejection rate for foreign smells that were unfamiliar.

Brazil's middle-class population has risen sharply in the last decade and in 2012 nearly half of Brazil's population is classified as middle class. View Summary

Brazil's middle-class population has risen sharply in the last decade and in 2012 nearly half of Brazil's population is classified as middle class. As a result, Brazilians are dining out more than ever. To understand how this growth affects the food service industry, Nestlé Brazil proposed a mass-ethnographic project using online research communities to better understand the Brazilian middle-class market. The findings identified two key pillars that drive the conscious decisions consumers make when selecting a place to eat - the environment and the food. It also illustrated that, to the Brazilian middle class, eating out is not just a practical need - it is charged with emotional associations related to the transformation of living standards. Understanding these emotional cues are key to reaching this growing market.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which recently prevalent nutrient-content claims in food advertising are effective and how the level of effectiveness might differ between food products perceived as healthy and unhealthy. View Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which recently prevalent nutrient-content claims in food advertising are effective and how the level of effectiveness might differ between food products perceived as healthy and unhealthy. Guided by the match-up hypothesis and its theoretical underpinnings, a set of 2 (nutrient-content vs taste claim) × 2 (healthy vs unhealthy food) experiments investigated the impact of nutrient-content claims compared to the impact of taste claims on two different food product types. The authors found that (a) respondents evaluated food ads with nutrient-content claims as healthier than food ads with taste claims regardless of product type, but (b) the respondents showed better advertising evaluations on nutrient-content claims for foods perceived as healthy foods and on taste claims for foods perceived as unhealthy. Our findings provide implications and suggestions for improving food advertising and marketing strategies, and public health policy.

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Stop Playing with Your Food: A Comparison of For-Profit and Non-Profit Food-Related Advergames

In response to the rising rate in childhood obesity and the increasing number of child-targeted interactive games employed by food marketers and health advocates, this study examined food-related advergaming content for for-profit and non-profit organizations' Web sites. View Summary

In response to the rising rate in childhood obesity and the increasing number of child-targeted interactive games employed by food marketers and health advocates, this study examined food-related advergaming content for for-profit and non-profit organizations' Web sites. The authors conducted a content analysis of 80 interactive games (40 for-profit and 40 non-profit). The results showed differences in the interactive-gaming genre types employed by non-profit and for-profit organizations. This research adds considerably to the literature about the ways in which children learn healthy food habits/behaviors. Managerial and practical implications are provided to address the need to advance socially responsible methods for organizations.

7

Semiotics of taste: Application in China for International (and Local) Food and Flavor Industries

The traditional role of consumer research in the food and flavor industry focuses primarily on new concept creation and product development, as well as product testing. View Summary

The traditional role of consumer research in the food and flavor industry focuses primarily on new concept creation and product development, as well as product testing. This presentation describes how semiotics can be applied during the preliminary stage of concept creation – how it can be used to prepare probe material as well as structure the findings of more traditional qualitative research, when the researcher interprets consumer expectations towards flavors.

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Pulse on the economy: Using social media to understand today's shopper behaviour

This paper discusses how social listening can help brands gain consumer insights. It reports on research carried out by Kantar Media affiliate Cymfony for Kraft Foods to learn how American consumers' grocery shopping behaviour was being affected by the recession. View Summary

This paper discusses how social listening can help brands gain consumer insights. It reports on research carried out by Kantar Media affiliate Cymfony for Kraft Foods to learn how American consumers' grocery shopping behaviour was being affected by the recession. Its methodology incorporated social listening on blogs, forums, etc with targeted email surveys to better-understand the attitudes and actions of women and mothers who were the primary grocery shoppers. The research revealed that women went from anger or denial about the economy to developing confidence and taking pride in being frugal. This helped shape Kraft's strategy to better engage them with appropriate in-store, online and advertising communications.

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The current practices in food advertising - the usage and effectiveness of different advertising claims

A content analysis and a quasi-experiment were performed to examine the current practices in food advertising, and the usage and the effectiveness of different advertising claims across two food categories (hedonic vs functional). View Summary

A content analysis and a quasi-experiment were performed to examine the current practices in food advertising, and the usage and the effectiveness of different advertising claims across two food categories (hedonic vs functional). The content analysis revealed that taste and specific nutrition claims are the two dominating types of advertising claims in recent food advertisements. Also, a greater proportion of advertisements for functional (vs hedonic) foods appeared to use such nutrition/health claims as general health and contains nutrient claims, whereas a greater proportion of advertisements for hedonic (vs functional) foods used taste claims. However, these current practices of food advertising were called into question by the results of the quasi-experiment, which showed that the nutrition/health claims were more effective when promoting hedonic (vs functional) foods, whereas taste claims were more effective when promoting functional (vs hedonic) foods in generating favourable attitudes and purchase intention. Implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.

10

Intimate and intimidating: understanding trends and patterns in food and eating culture

The article describes a research study into attitudes to food. Food is said to have become a self-modelling process and something through which increasingly people define to themselves who they are and want to be, or from which they derive emotional consolation. View Summary

The article describes a research study into attitudes to food. Food is said to have become a self-modelling process and something through which increasingly people define to themselves who they are and want to be, or from which they derive emotional consolation. Attitudes to food and detailed eating habits were investigated in seven countries (six in Europe plus US). Depth interviews and internet diaries were involved. The psychological significance of specific eating habits was explored. The cultural contexts were found to differ between countries. In Spain, Italy and Poland, family eating is still an ideal and gives rise to a tension with the fragmented modern lifestyles now dominant in the US, France, UK and Germany. Also, food habits are becoming more fragmented with lifestyles and individuals are increasingly intimidated by food and torn between the demands of aesthetics and indulgence. Marketers and products need to address the specific situations in which different functions are demanded from food.

When a person comes into contact with a fragrance, they experience sensations that are unique to him or her. View Summary

When a person comes into contact with a fragrance, they experience sensations that are unique to him or her. But this is not a reason why we should not try to describe 'objectively', or as 'objectively' as possible, the fragrances of our products. Research shows that humans do not have an unlimited capacity to judge the intensities of individual odour notes in complex smells, and the food industry demonstrated a long time ago that well trained people are able to describe complex aromatic products with acuteness and reliability. This paper details the main principles of odour perception to understand their complexity, then show how the food industry improves its products to meet the consumer's expectations using sensory descriptive analysis, before finally providing a fragrances-specific case study.

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Information asymmetries, labels and trust in the German food market: a critical analysis based on the economics of information

This comprehensive research study reveals that credence qualities are often elaborated and harmonized using different signaling instruments, the choice of which reflect a company's characteristics and market position. View Summary

This comprehensive research study reveals that credence qualities are often elaborated and harmonized using different signaling instruments, the choice of which reflect a company's characteristics and market position. Signaling instrumentation does not apparently relate to any particular food industry, with family businesses seemingly able to create credibility in the context of socio-ecological product qualities, for example.

13

Enhancing food promotion in the supermarket industry: a framework for sales promotion success

Sales promotion research has tended to be narrow in focus, emphasizing one particular tool (generally price discounting) and comparing the usefulness of the technique with advertising, for example. View Summary

Sales promotion research has tended to be narrow in focus, emphasizing one particular tool (generally price discounting) and comparing the usefulness of the technique with advertising, for example. In contrast, this study identifies channel issues such as trust and the sharing of objectives, market development and industry structure as vital to the successful use of sales promotions in the supermarket retail environment.

14

The effects of brand experience and an advertisement’s disclaimer speed on purchase: speak slowly or carry a big brand

Radio advertising is full of disclaimers which are intended to give consumers information and to meet legal compliance, but little research has been carried out into their effect on purchasing. View Summary

Radio advertising is full of disclaimers which are intended to give consumers information and to meet legal compliance, but little research has been carried out into their effect on purchasing. This paper suggests that if a product is new, then the speed with which the disclaimer is read is important. A slow disclaimer (read in six seconds) engenders significantly more purchasing than a fast disclaimer. However, if a product is well known, then the disclaimer speed matters less.

15

Becoming a preferred employer. How a global research programme helps the 10th largest employer in the world achieve its strategic goals

This paper reports a case history where an employee loyalty measurement programme contributes to the strategic direction as well as tactical needs of Compass Group, the world’s tenth largest employer. View Summary

This paper reports a case history where an employee loyalty measurement programme contributes to the strategic direction as well as tactical needs of Compass Group, the world’s tenth largest employer. It demonstrates how a close partnership between client and research agency led to a number of successes in year one of the survey, including consistent measurement of a global workforce. The paper demonstrates how operational challenges were overcome and concludes with thoughts on how the employee measures are to be combined with service measures, so that predictions of business performance can start to affect real business results.

16

A 50-year longitudinal study of changes in the content and form of food advertising in New Zealand magazines

New Zealand society has changed dramatically in the last 50 years and so has food advertising. This paper argues that some developments in advertising appear to directly counter social and economic trends. View Summary

New Zealand society has changed dramatically in the last 50 years and so has food advertising. This paper argues that some developments in advertising appear to directly counter social and economic trends. For example, claims about diet have increased ten fold, which would indicate a society obsessed with not getting fat but in reality, obesity is increasing. And claims of convenience haven’t increased while supermarket shelves provide overwhelming evidence of the move towards convenience foods.

17

The influence of advertising on the pattern of food consumption in the UK

This paper researches whether the food processing industry influences household diet through advertising, using an advertising-augmented Rotterdam model for eleven broad food groupings spanning 1969-1996. The econometric estimates reveal no evidence of advertising affecting demand for food at the expense of non-food demand and minimal evidence of advertising effecting the product composition of any given level of total food demand.

Describes how Kraft manage marketing, information and research to obtain competitive advantage. The key to competitive edge lies in appreciating the importance of timing, in all aspects of marketing, ... View Summary

Describes how Kraft manage marketing, information and research to obtain competitive advantage. The key to competitive edge lies in appreciating the importance of timing, in all aspects of marketing, and managing it.

This research showed that not all of the creative tactics which, according to the conventional wisdom, were assumed to work within an idea in the communication of a key strategy message were effective. View Summary

This research showed that not all of the creative tactics which, according to the conventional wisdom, were assumed to work within an idea in the communication of a key strategy message were effective. The best techniques were the simplest and most direct, for example visually lingering on the product to create salivation or audibly repeating the message and including it as a tagline.